Why there's never been a better time to pick Windows over macOS

Windows 10 is developing rapidly. With every major update, it's getting more and more polish, making it better than ever. But why shouldn't you switch to macOS which is supposedly even more polished than Windows 10?

The applications

Windows 10 offers a much bigger application library than macOS. As it offers both Universal Windows Apps (UWP) from the Store, the older WinRT apps from Windows 8 and the legacy Win32 applications from Windows 7 and older, it has the biggest application library in the world, with four million legacy applications from outside the Windows Store and around 650,000 apps in the Store. In comparison, macOS only offers around thirty thousand applications inside the Mac App Store, though there are many thousands more available from the wider web. The most noticeable lack of support for macOS is in the gaming department. Looking at games inside Steam, very few support anything other than Windows, and chances are that you'll probably encounter issues with lack of apps at some point.

The computers

macOS may not be the weak spot for Apple's computer ecosystem. The hardware is the biggest point of contention, with pretty but expensive and lacking computers, like the new MacBook Pro which only features Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports with no backwards compatibility to standard USB without dongles. MacBooks also lack touchscreens, 2-in-1 form factors and much more. With Windows, you have a huge variety of hardware to choose from from dozens of manufacturers across many price points — Apple offers Macs in just a handful of forms and sizes.

Sure, if you really want a non-Apple macOS machine, you can "hackintosh" it, but then you're in a grey area of legality and lose a lot in terms of compatibility. The chances of getting macOS to run well on a Windows laptop are minimal.

With Windows, there are multiple form-factors and quality products like the Surface Pro or HP x360, which are incredible machines many could prefer over the MacBooks. They support new technologies like touchscreens, USB-C as well as the older USB-A and give you a good all-in-one, no-compromise package which also, more often than not, comes at lower price than Apple's offerings. And if you want something roaring with computing and graphics power, you won't have to break the bank like you would with a Mac.

The ecosystem

If you use a Windows phone or an Android, don't expect it to work as well with macOS as it does with Windows. Apple tightly integrates iOS with its computer OS and constrains most other platforms. You can't receive SMS, sync app data or even connect your device properly, without third-party software if you don't have an iPhone. And you can definitely forget about iMessage or iCloud. This is not the case with Windows 10.

With Microsoft's "Mobile first" vision, it optimized Windows 10 in order to be fully compatible with Windows 10 Mobile and Android, with iOS support being somewhat less thrilling but still fairly decent. macOS has very poor support for devices not made by Apple, and they often require a lot of third party software in order to work properly. Windows 10 is also way more open. If you want to modify or change something, there is a high possibility that you can if you find the right tools. With macOS, there are indeed ways to modify the system, however, there are far fewer alternatives — many tools are outdated or simply not as powerful as their Windows counterparts.

The focus

Both Microsoft and Apple have their flagship products which are doing great and get a lot of attention from their creators. In the case of Microsoft, it's Windows 10, meanwhile, in the case of Apple, it's the iPhone. Apple is building its ecosystem around the iPhone, not the Mac. Apple has been neglecting the Mac for a very long time now, and while macOS is definitely still receiving significant updates, those are nothing compared to how rapidly iOS is evolving.

This is the exact opposite of Microsoft's situation. Microsoft is focusing on Windows 10 more than ever, delivering huge updates every several months, with big changes and tons of new features. It's all happening while Windows 10 Mobile users are being neglected, just like Mac users. If you want a rapidly evolving desktop OS that is the main focus of a company, macOS may not be the way to go.

The design

macOS was once seen as superior in terms of design, by offering a prettier interface and more organized experience. While beauty is individual, macOS Yosemite brought an all new design which competed with Windows 8, at the time. Windows 8 was still in its early days and a lot of people considered it to be too flat. Windows 10 is way more inconsistent that Windows 8, but it's heading in the right direction. With the announcement of Fluent design, Microsoft has upped their game by miles. A lot of the design elements macOS users used to love, like blur and semi-flat icons are being implemented in Windows 10 and in the near future, Windows 10 may become the preferred platform for people who prefer minimalistic and modern UIs.

The small things

macOS is infamous for its confusing choices in some areas. For example, there is no way to cut and paste files without third-party software. You either have to copy it then delete the original file, or simply drag-n-drop, which maybe isn't your cup of tea. The green button which Windows users call "maximise", has a will of its own. Sometimes, the app goes fullscreen. Sometimes it maximizes and yet another time it awkwardly resizes the window. While macOS may be consistent in its design, it's far from consistent when it comes to behavior.

When you eject a thumb drive (assuming that your Mac has a USB-A port) without unmounting it from the system first, you'll be greeted with a notification telling you that you ejected the drive incorrectly. Windows doesn't do this as the filesystem is configured to be able to unmount the drives without corrupting them. While the method Windows uses is not perfect, as not unmounting the drive before ejecting it can corrupt your files, the method macOS uses has left me with a lot of corrupted drives and annoying notifications.

These things are just the tip of the iceberg. While using macOS, you will find a lot of illogical decisions and inconsistencies.

Conclusion

Windows 10 is evolving at an incredible peace. It takes giant leaps with every update that comes, and the bright future that awaits Windows 10 may be a preferable alternative than the awkward and unknown situation macOS is currently in, and most probably will for the most time. A lot of people still use Macs, a lot of them because they are bound by Apple's in-house applications like Final Cut Pro X, or Logic Pro X, which are not available on Windows and learning to use alternatives like Adobe Premiere Pro would require a lot of time for content creators. Once upon a time, macOS was the way to go if you wanted to do creative work or use a high-quality machine, but this has all changed since then.

Dennis Bednarz

Dennis Bednarz is a former writer for Windows Central and the guy behind ModMy. He has been a recognised member of the Microsoft community for years and owns everything from Lumia phones to Surface PCs. He occasionally likes to rant about Windows Phone and drink tea. You can go ahead and follow him on Twitter at @DennisBednarz